For the first time in more than 100 years, Longmont's Civil War statue will be missing from this year's Memorial Day ceremony at Mountain View Cemetery after it was damaged by vandals last summer.

The century-old statue of a soldier holding his gun was the centerpiece of the cemetery until a group of vandals pushed the statue from its pedestal, breaking off the head in one of four incidents that began in early July. More than 150 headstones were also damaged.

Five of the vandals, one girl and five boys ages 14 to 17 and a 21-year-old man, were referred to the Longmont Community Justice Partnership for restorative justice — an alternative to arrest and criminal charges for suspects who take responsibility for their actions.

In April, the program brought together cemetery staff, community members, police officers and the offenders for a meeting where they discussed what happened, who was affected and how, and what can be done to make things right, said Kathleen McGoey, a program manager the Community Justice Partnership.

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During the past week, the vandals released apology letters to the cemetery as part of the confidential agreements that were made during the meeting to "repair the harms," McGoey said.

The letters will be available for viewing by the public at the cemetery by early June after cemetery board member Anton Dworak has time to review the letters and redact the vandals' names, he said.

Dworak was at the meeting in April as a member of the cemetery's board and a victim. Dworak's family headstone was damaged during the incidents last summer.

"It's very important to the cemetery staff and the board to make those public because we took this process of working with vandals very seriously and we believe their remorse is truthful," Dworak said. "They were immediately, genuinely upset, embarrassed, guilt ridden about what they had done and the letters really reflect how bad they felt about what they did."

One of the letters, which was released to the Times-Call Wednesday, reflects the embarrassment and disgust that Dworak said he witnessed during the meeting.

"It haunts me to think that I was one of the kids that was involved in this," the letter states. "I'd like to send to each and every family and member of the community my deepest apologies and regret for what I have done."

Police are still looking for a seventh suspected vandal, John Heston, 19, who is wanted on a warrant for felony criminal mischief, Longmont Police Cmdr. Jeff Satur said.

Memorial Day services will continue as normal this year, despite the missing statue, but cemetery staff are hoping to have a replacement installed by Veterans Day.

The new statue is being made by a company in Vermont and will look similar to the previous one, but with more detail, Dworak said.

The new statue will be the same size and have similar granite to the previous one. But designers took advantage of modern techniques to increase the detail in the statue's face and uniform and make the feature more proportionate, he said.

The new statue will cost about $62,000, which was covered by insurance.

The headstones have been placed back on their bases, Dworak said, but some adjustments still need to be made to cracked or crooked stones.

The cemetery is collecting donations through the Longmont Cemetery Association Fund to help families pay for the cost of repairs, where were not covered by insurance because they are not considered cemetery property.

To make a donation contact the Longmont Community Foundation, which hosts the fund, at 303-678-6555.

The design of a new statue that will replace the century-old Civil War Memorial that was broken by vandals last summer is in Longmont's Mountain View Cemetery is nearly complete. The new statue will include more detail in the soldier's face and uniform and have a beard (not reflected in the current design), according to a member of the cemetery board. (Courtesy Photo)